Shitori-kaichou, Asia-san, and I arrived at the burger joint that Gabriel-san enjoyed. It was just a small stall but the burgers was good.
"Yo, Owner-san," I greeted the man behind the stall. We knew each other as I was the one who sent Gabriel-san here. "I'm ordering the usual three. Also, I'll take three home."
"So, six?"
"Yup. Speaking of which, has Gabriel-san come here?"
The owner then began to make our order as he answered, "Nope. Gabriel-san hasn't come. Also, Issei, the first three are on the house."
"Thanks, Owner-san." I went back to the two who shouldn't be near each other. It's a devil and a nun. But somehow, Shitori-kaichou was holding a conversation with Asia-san as I learned her name. I didn't understand what language they were speaking but I really wanted to know why Asia-san had an awed look or why Shitori-kaichou winced.
Eh, the last one was probably because Asia prayed for her. Do your best, Kaichou! I don't know how to hold a conversation with her so I'm leaving this to you!
Maybe they sensed that I am holding myself back because suddenly Shitori-kaichou asked me something.
"Speaking of which, Hyoudou-kun. Asia-san here doesn't believe that you've met the Seraph Gabriel."
"Of course she wouldn't believe me, Shitori-kaichou. If anyone else were in my position I wouldn't believe them either... Actually, what were you two talking about anyway?"
She gestured me to wait while she continued her conversation with Asia-san. Since I didn't have anything to do other than waiting, I sent a message to Koneko-chan asking if she had seen Gabriel-san in her apartment.
Three minutes later, Koneko-chan replied that she was still at school. Damn. No one else in the Serene Apartment had a phone. Gabriel-san wasn't intereseted in a phone and I didn't want to dig my pocket to buy the others one. I don't know about Raynare-san or Serafall-san though I suspect Raynare doesn't have one while Serafall-san might have one.
The six burgers I ordered finally arrived. Shitori-kaichou broke her and Asia-san's conversation in favor of the burger in front of them. The one I ordered was kind of special since it wasn't included in the menu. It was something that became my trademark because I knew HamburGeneral from the first day it opened.
This was also where Ophis and I had our first lunch together, so this is a special place for us. But even if it was our special place, we (mostly I, though) knew that denying Kunou and Kuroka this place was a crime because how good the food was so we shared this place with them. As for Gabriel-san, it was at the first or second night of living in the Serene Apartment. Somebody (hint, it started with Ku and ended with Roka) had forgotten to buy the groceries so I brought them here.
Anyway, I was about to bite the burger in my hand when I caught something interesting on the corner of my eyes.
Asia-san looked confused about something and just stared at the burger in front of her. She also poked it once or twice before looking at Shitori-kaichou with the most terrifying puppy dog eyes ever. Fortunately for me, it wasn't targeted at me and unfortunately for Shitori-kaichou, it was targeted at her.
Point blank attack! Asia used cute! Critical hit! Shitori-kaichou got charmed!
Shitori-kaichou sighed and picked her burger while talking to Asia-san. For a strict and serious person like her, talking while eating surely must be a violation of eating manner. She pointed at several places on her burger while Asia-san looked seriously. Even if I couldn't follow, I knew Shitori-kaichou was teaching her how to eat a burger.
While doing so, Shitori-san really looked like a proper teacher.
Both of them stopped talking and looked at me. Huh? "Did I say it out loud?"
Fixing her glasses, Shitori-kaichou replied. "Yes, Hyoudou-kun. You did. Thank you for the compliment. I aspire to be a teacher, yes. So being compared to one makes me proud. Nonetheless, teaching something like this is still a small matter that anyone can do properly."
She then continued talking to Asia-san. However, her words came out a little faster than before. I wonder why?
After the explanation from Shitori-kaichou finished, Asia-san looked eager to try eating the burger in front of her. She looked at the burger seriously, then slowly she put one hand on it while sighing in relief. Ha, don't drop your guards, cadet Asia!
She put her other hand and grabbed the burger. Then, she lifted it into the air, aiming at her mouth. I can see her arm trembled. You can do it, Asia-san!
She took a bite out of the burger and widened her eyes before suddenly putting the burger on the table. What? What happened?
The hacking sound of coughs came out of her mouth. Shitori-kaichou then spoke something to her, before Asia-san blushed red.
Oh, it seemed that in the midst of her enthusiasm, Asia-san forgot to open the wrappings of her burger so she tasted the bitter taste of wrapping paper. I thought for sure Asia-san had some kinds of allergy, luckily it wasn't that.
After that, there wasn't any excitement. Asia-san finished eating her burger, with the look of astonishment visible on her face every time she took a bite of it. Asia-san definitely was someone that I can easily beat on poker. Or strip poker. The sheer taboo of seeing the body of a pure nun surely can excite any males!
We left the burger joint with a full stomach and walked towards my apartment. Actually I wanted to ask Shitori-senpai about what they were talking but apparently, they hadn't stopped talking. Wow. Was this the mythical power of women? They can connect as instantaneous as a gas reaction and can cut that connection faster than anyone can say 'please no'. Scary.
At some points, Shitori-kaichou frowned heavily while Asia-san had a look of acceptance on her face. Come on, please stop talking in an alien language and start speaking Japanese. However, I didn't voice my thought because I could sense the tension in the air. Instead, I led them silently to my apartment, looking at my surroundings in the process.
"Hyoudou-kun," Shitori-kaichou greeted me. "There's someone who wanted to talk to you."
"Who?" I asked as I turned my head.
"T-Thank you so much," Asia-san spoke to me.
"Eh? No problem," I replied.
Wait. Something wasn't right. How can I talk to Asia-san? My brain processed the event that just happened more closely. Huh? Did I hear that right? Asia-san thanked me in Japanese?
You're an idiot, Hyoudou Issei.
"Err, Shitori-kaichou, how can I reply her in her native language?"
"It's 'di niente'," she replied with upturned lips.
"D-Di niente, Asia-san."
Well, this is awkward, I replied in her native language but still called her with Japanese suffix. Shitori-kaichou smiled while Asia-san giggled at my response.
"You need some lessons in Italian, Hyoudou-kun," Shitori-kaichou said to me. Well, of course, I had no plans to ever go outside my country for vacation so I did not learn any foreign language other than English which was mandatory for all of Kuoh Academy's students. But that meant Asia-san came from Italy, right?
"What was an Italian nun doing in Japan, especially Kuoh?"
"She was transferred here, to this city," Shitori-kaichou replied me. But that was weird.
"The only church in this city left is that abandoned one, isn't it? I don't think Asia-san is in the right place? Maybe she misread her assigned place?"
"Isn't that interesting? I also thought the same, Hyoudou-kun. That's why seeing Gabriel-sama with my own eyes kind of surprised me last night. There's no representative from the Angel side in this city. So what is Asia-san doing here?" Shitori-kaichou answered me with her own question.
The last time the church had a priest was... Irina's father time. After Irina went abroad, there had been no one filling the position and over time it got abandoned.
I turned to see Asia-san looking at me with a cute expression. Seriously being that cute should be a crime. Even little Kunou hadn't been that cute! This was coming from the guy who raised her since I was eleven and she was six.
Shitori-kaichou continued her explanation. "At least, that was on my mind, until Asia-san talked about herself. She is an exiled nun. And it wouldn't be strange for their kind to turn to Fallen Angels."
Ah. I haven't talked that much with Raynare-san. However, Gabriel-san and I had several talks about why she chose this city in particular.
The gist was, she didn't choose it, it was given by her brother Michael. She practically just begged her brother to build an apartment complex, and he complied. So Archangel Michael was the one who chose this place. Maybe Michael-san chose this place because this city was filled with Devils, specifically, she mentioned about the sisters of two Maous. At the time, I didn't know it was Gremory-senpai and Shitori-kaichou. However, Gabriel-san thought that wasn't the only reason. She told me that compared to other places, this city had the least amount of balance between the Three Faction at the time, so maybe her brother wanted her to back down but didn't want to say it directly.
She also told me she was at loss on what to do until she met me. It was a nice feeling, being regarded as an important person by someone as beautiful as Gabriel-san.
Back to the problem, at the time this city was on Devils' hand, and the opposing faction had no claim. But because of this apartment presence, especially the holy aura of Gabriel-san which as a normal human I couldn't detect, the last faction, that is, Fallen Angels tried to come to this city. Maybe Asia-san with her healing power was a reinforcement in their efforts to claw the other factions from this city and take it for themselves.
"If it's about Fallen Angel, we can probably ask Raynare-san if she's home," yes, that was right. There was no point in overthinking it when I didn't even know the problem in the first place.
Shitori-kaichou who had gotten back to converse with Asia-san heard my reply and nodded.
Not too long after that, we arrived at my apartment. Asia-san looked at the building around us in wonder. Maybe she was the sheltered type of girl because well, for a city boy like me there was nothing special about a normal building like this. Instead, I would be more surprised by the residents of this place.
"Nya~, Ise-chin. Where were you?" Kuroka greeted me upon hearing the door opened by me. She was in the kitchen trying to cook. So she was serious about cooking, huh? I appreciate your efforts, Kuroka.
"I went to HamburGeneral because Shitori-kaichou wanted to see Gabriel-san." I placed the take-out burger on the table. The three are for Kuroka, Kunou, and Ophis. They loved the burger more than me. The only one who loved it more than those three was Gabriel-san.
"Thanks, Ise-chin! You always know when I crave for HamburGeneral."
"You always crave for HamburGeneral," I shot back at her. She just winked at me playfully.
"And who is this?" Kuroka asked after seeing the figure behind Shitori-kaichou. Interestingly, said figure being Asia-san hid behind Shitori-kaichou. So she trusted her that much even though they barely knew each other? Oh wait, maybe I got that impression because I didn't know what those two were talking. Who knew, they might be talking about their entire life summed up in the thirty minutes it takes for me to lead them here.
"She's Asia-san, and we wanted to have a talk with Gabriel-san and Raynare-san about her," Shitori-kaichou answered Kuroka's question.
"Let's just prepare dinner, Kuroka. Wanna be my assistant cook?"
"Eh, can I?! But about that, Ise-chin. I spent all the groceries so Gabriel-san went to buy more of them. But it's been five hours and she hasn't come back."
What?
Suddenly our door was knocked by someone which knock technique I didn't recognize.
"Yes?" I opened the door to see Gabriel-san holding bags of groceries behind a policeman. So the one who knocked was the policeman? What was a policeman doing with Gabriel-san? She was an Angel! There was no way an Angel like her can commit a crime and not falling!
"Are you Hyoudou Issei?" The policeman looked at me.
"Y-Yes, I am."
"Next time, please don't let her wander on her own. I found her lost, with a trail of unconscious men behind her. When I asked, she said that every time she asked them for direction, they fainted."
Gabriel-san, your beauty was way too radiant! Please tone it down for your own sake!
"O-Of course," I assured the policeman.
"Thank you," the policeman left.
"Um. Haha, Ise-kun," Gabriel-san started talking. "Tehee~"
I just sighed. Sometimes I forgot Gabriel-san can be such an airhead. I'll remind Kuroka next time to buy her own groceries and don't let Gabriel-san walked around on her own.